Help needed downloading EZPrints icc profile

kaythorogood

I'm trying to download the icc profile from EZPrints. I can't seem to accomplish this simple task. I have a PC and use Firefox. Once I click on the EZPrints profile, I get a window that says Open. I click on that and the window then asks me what program to open it with. I'm stuck there. Can anyone help me get this profile downloaded. Thanks.

jhmjcm

kaythorogood wrote:

I'm trying to download the icc profile from EZPrints. I can't seem to accomplish this simple task. I have a PC and use Firefox. Once I click on the EZPrints profile, I get a window that says Open. I click on that and the window then asks me what program to open it with. I'm stuck there. Can anyone help me get this profile downloaded. Thanks.

You need to save it to disk. Once it is saved, you then move it into the appropriate directory for PS. I'm a Mac user and don't know which is the correct directory for a PC off the top of my head; however, that should be in the PS documentation.

kaythorogood

I tried to burn it to a disk and it gives me the same window: "What program created it."

npudar

Color Questions
Several related questions from a newbie on color management -- there is still something non-intuitive about all this stuff that I haven't yet compartmentalized in my head.

1) When I download (in Windows) the EZ-Prints-2008-1.icc file and right-click and select "Install", nothing seems to happen. Whenever I try it again, there is no "Uninstall" option, so it does not seem to be installing. Whenever I look for it in Photoshop (CS2), I do not see it as a selection. What should I be doing differently?

2) Here I would like to check my understanding of this color management stuff. First, I recently purchased an xRite eyeOne colorimeter. I have run it to calibrate my monitor. I am assuming that my monitor will automatically correctly display my sRGB, AdobeRGB, ProPhoto RGB, etc. embedded files. My assumption is that this is all about keeping the monitor functioning at its peak.

Similarly, I am assuiming that if I was able to install the EZ-Prints-2008-1.icc profile, all I need to do with it is observe it in the Proof views of Photoshop. My assumption is that EZPrints will correctly read my sRGB saved files and correctly render the colors during the printing process.

Or am I supposed to somehow embed the EZ-Prints-2008-1.icc profile into the image file?

The confusing aspect of all this is that I don't know what to do with icc files.

3) My software of choice these days is Lightroom 2.0. I use the SmugMug Plugin to upload my pictures. As long as I have my files saved in sRGB profile, and they look good to me on my calibrated monitor, do I need to do anything with the EZ-Prints-2008-1.icc profile so that the prints match what I see on the screen?

4) Finally, in Adobe's color management, if I open a file that is sRGB, and preserve the profile (not convert to Adobe RGB), will my calibrated monitor still show it correctly -- in other words, does Photoshop still work with it in sRGB mode?

Thanks in advance for putting up with my confusion.

Regards,
Nick

npudar

Friendly bump

jfriend

npudar wrote:

Several related questions from a newbie on color management -- there is still something non-intuitive about all this stuff that I haven't yet compartmentalized in my head.

1) When I download (in Windows) the EZ-Prints-2008-1.icc file and right-click and select "Install", nothing seems to happen. Whenever I try it again, there is no "Uninstall" option, so it does not seem to be installing. Whenever I look for it in Photoshop (CS2), I do not see it as a selection. What should I be doing differently?

I don't know why the EZPrints ICC profile isn't installing for you. In Photoshop CS3, if you go View/Proof Setup/Custom you should get a dialog. Under Device to Simulate, you should see EZPrints in the drop down. If you pick it and set the other settings in that dialog how EZPrints recommend and hit OK, it will enable soft proofing with that profile. This will show you a simulation of how EZPrints will print your image. It should ONLY look different than what you regularly see if your image contains colors that EZPrints printers cannot print. If that's the case, they will have to map those colors to something close that they can print and that's what soft proofing will attempt to show you.

npudar wrote:

2) Here I would like to check my understanding of this color management stuff. First, I recently purchased an xRite eyeOne colorimeter. I have run it to calibrate my monitor. I am assuming that my monitor will automatically correctly display my sRGB, AdobeRGB, ProPhoto RGB, etc. embedded files. My assumption is that this is all about keeping the monitor functioning at its peak.

Similarly, I am assuiming that if I was able to install the EZ-Prints-2008-1.icc profile, all I need to do with it is observe it in the Proof views of Photoshop. My assumption is that EZPrints will correctly read my sRGB saved files and correctly render the colors during the printing process.

Or am I supposed to somehow embed the EZ-Prints-2008-1.icc profile into the image file?

The confusing aspect of all this is that I don't know what to do with icc files.

As I said above, EZPrints will correctly read your sRGB files. The profile and soft proofing in CSx is only to show you a simulation of what will happen if your image contains colors outside the gamut of their printers.

You are NOT supposed to embed the EZPrints profile in your images. Smugmug and EZPrints expect sRGB files.

npudar wrote:

3) My software of choice these days is Lightroom 2.0. I use the SmugMug Plugin to upload my pictures. As long as I have my files saved in sRGB profile, and they look good to me on my calibrated monitor, do I need to do anything with the EZ-Prints-2008-1.icc profile so that the prints match what I see on the screen?

No. You don't need to do anything with the profile and Lightroom doesn't even have soft proofing so you can't use the EZPrints profile in Lightroom.

npudar wrote:

4) Finally, in Adobe's color management, if I open a file that is sRGB, and preserve the profile (not convert to Adobe RGB), will my calibrated monitor still show it correctly -- in other words, does Photoshop still work with it in sRGB mode?

Thanks in advance for putting up with my confusion.

Regards,
Nick

Yes, Photoshop is a color-managed app which means that it read the profile of the image (no matter what it is) and then renders it correctly on your calibrated display (within the limits of the color gamut of your display). It will properly render images in nearly any color profile (sRGB, AdobeRGB, ProPhotoRGB, etc...).